Two Australian independent films championed by the same production company explore LGBTQIA+ Sydney stories.

6 Jun 2022

Stephen A Russell (Screen Hub)

FILM

Lonesome started as sketches for two different shorts. Image:

When Teenage Kicks director Craig Boreham set about casting his latest feature Lonesome, which enjoys its Australian premiere as part of this year’s Sydney Film Festival (SFF) he hit on an unusual approach to ensure it was appropriately queer. ‘There’s a whole conversation about authentic casting happening at the moment, but it turned out to be a lot more difficult than you’d imagine,’ he says. ‘Going through the traditional channels, you can’t just ask people if they’re gay in an interview. A lot of the time, their agents weren’t really sure or weren’t sure if they would disclose, and a lot of openly gay actors don’t want to be pigeonholed doing queer stuff.’